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An early instance of the word fraught occurs in the 14th century poem Richard Coer de Lion, about England’s King Richard I. “The drowmound was so hevy fraught / That unethe myght it saylen aught” is about a large fast-sailing ship so heavily fraught—that is, loaded—that it can barely sail. The use is typical for the time; originally, something that was fraught was laden with freight. For centuries, fraught continued to be used in relation to loaded ships, but its use was eventually broadened for situations that are heavy with tension, emotion, or some other weighty characteristic.
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Examples of fraught in a Sentence
Christine Adams / Made By History, TIME, 5 Nov. 2024
Voting, when utilized as the only tool for societal change, is fraught, as the actors and administrations are always in flux.
—Aissa Dearing, JSTOR Daily, 4 Nov. 2024
In a fragmented media landscape, getting the attention of voters who aren’t partisan news consumers is fraught, says Daniel Kreiss, a professor of political communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
—Simon Montlake, The Christian Science Monitor, 1 Nov. 2024
Nevertheless, the movie’s journey to U.S. movie screens was fraught — and that was the case in Russia, too.
—Patrick Brzeski, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Nov. 2024
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Dictionary Entries Near fraught
Cite this Entry
“Fraught.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fraught. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
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